My View

I’m on my yearly retreat in Sheffield, at Visitors’ Week. Some people have asked me why I keep coming back time after time again. I think the answer to that question has to do with the people and the place.

Let’s start with the place. To me, St Thomas’ Church in Sheffield feels like Rivendell. You remember this place in Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings where Elrond lived (you’ll have to read the book if you can’t relate). To me, St Thomas’ Church feels likes home. But it also feels like a place that is hidden from the evils of the outside world, a place where I can rest without having to keep my sword in hand all the time. It is a place I come to for healing, rest and new vision.

But it’s not just the place, or perhaps: the place wouldn’t be what it is, if it wasn’t for the people. I enjoy meeting old friends. I’ve met so many people that have come to constitute family to me that I want to come back. So thank you, people of St. Toms for your hospitality, friendship and care.

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Yesterday, we opened up our Figtive Works online t-shirt shop. Go and check it out!

Among my favourites, a t-shirt with a cereal bowl and the text:
“I eat Clusters for breakfast.”

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It’s been a busy week. Came home from Copenhagen last night. Going to Sheffield for a week now. Sitting at the airport, waiting for my delayed flight to Manchester. So for the first time in a long time, I’ve got time to think. And nothing to do but write.

Some of you have asked me why I haven’t written anything in a long time. The reason is very simple: I haven’t prioritised it. I also wonder whether blogging is more introvert than extrovert, knowing that most bloggers I know are introverts. Perhaps you can prove me wrong. Anyway, I was prompted to start writing again by my friend Thomas Willer. To honour him, this post is called “Ode to Thomas”. And the second reason is that he gave me two bottles of excellent Brøkkhus beer. And the third is that Thomas joined TOM (see below).

I had a really good time in Copenhagen. I was there with my wife for the Scandinavian gathering of the Order o f Mission (TOM). The TOM gathering was the first of its kind in Scandinavia, and a really successful one at that. There were around 30 people from Denmark and Finland present. Some are already members, and some gathered to process what it might mean to become a member of TOM. Around 15 people joined as temporary members, and 3 became permanent. Meeting all these people and hearing their stories makes me proud to serve in their company. So an ode to the TOM guys!

Peter Tingleff, one of the Danish leaders said it well: We share in a common mission now. It is no longer your mission and my mission, but our mission. And the mission is to take the gospel to a needy world.

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I’m involved in a new Podcast, Kingdom Life, that’s gone live a week ago. We’ve got two episodes out now, interviewing Anders Michael Hansen and Steve Cockram.

Subscribe on iTunes, or listen to the podcast on www.figtiveworks.com!

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We’re a quick fix culture. I wanna learn how to do business in a 2 day intensive course. I wanna learn how to heal people I pray for in a 2 day intensive course. I wanna learn new stuff by reading a 2 page summary. I wanna get rich without working. I wanna graduate without studying.

So what if life is more complex? What if you have to study 5 years to graduate? What if you have to live 15 years to learn? What if maturity really does come with learning from experience?

When you study Biblical leaders you can see this really clearly: most leaders have gone through periods of what we could call

building, breaking and blessing.

Look at Moses, for example. 40 years of training and blessing in Egypt. Then 40 years of training in the desert. Then 40 years of blessing. 40 years in the desert!

A guy called Stephen R. Covey (see previous post) studied management and self-help literature published in the US from 1776-1976. Fairly soon he could spot a trend; the literature from the roughly first 150 years and the literature from the roughly 50 last years were different. During the first 150 years of American history, almost all of these books focused on one theme: character. “If you live a life of integrity, honesty, and good character, you will prosper.” The more recent books focused on personality. “If you think this way, or do this, or smile that way, or understand this, you will prosper.” But barely no mention of character.

There’s an ancient fable about a farmer that has a goose that lays golden eggs. Every morning he gets one. So he sells it. The next morning he gets another one. And sells that one. This keeps going, and the farmer gets quite rich. But then one day he gets greedy. So he kills the goose, wanting to harvest all the golden eggs at once. Obviously (what a strange word to use in this circumstance), he finds none. So he doesn’t get all the gold at once. And since he killed the goose, he won’t get any more gold.

Having a good character, according to these American gurus before World War I, is a bit like having a goose that lays golden eggs. So what is the point of all of this? I think Covey is right. We need to start focusing more on our building good character, and less on finding quick fixes to our problems. Because if we sort out our “goose”, the fruit will come.

The Bible speaks of the same thing: What your heart is full of, your mouth will say. (No use in trying to focus on the mouth, focus on the heart.) Jesus talks about an inner well with living water that will overflow, quenching thirst eternally. He also speaks about him being the vine, and us being the branches. What does this mean?

Jesus can fill your heart. Jesus can create a well of living water within you, that will quench your thirst. Forever. Jesus can give you new life, so that you bear much fruit, if you’re connected to him.

He can change you from the inside out. And that’s the way lasting change works - from the inside out. Not the other way around.

And btw, the changing is seldom quick.

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When John Wesley was asked what he had done to start a revival, he answered:

I set myself on fire and people come to see me burning

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Been reading a lot of great books recently. Am currently reading one that will probably change my life. It’s called “The 7 habits of highly effective people”, and written by Stephen R. Covey. The title sounds just another leadership book. But the book is truly amazing. And btw, did I tell you this guy is a Christian.

Anyways, some insights from just the first few chapters. This guy is essentially talking about the Learning Circle, although he doesn’t use words like that. He talks about our paradigm. A paradigm is the way we view the world. Covey talks about our culture, and about how we view greatness.

The essential point (in my view) in the first few chapters is fairly simple:

Do You want to change the world? Then start with yourself.

Stop blaming your circumstances, your history, your parents, your friends or God for your shortcomings. Take responsibility.

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We launched our new Figtive site today; a site that I’m really proud of. Ben has done a really good job on this one. Go check out the new Figtive Works site!

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I’ve always aspired to lead. Earlier in life I just thought it was something everybody wanted to do. I couldn’t just stand there, without doing anything. Getting to know myself and my history better I’ve come to realise that it’s part of my personality. They call it an ENTJ. Growing up it exhibited itself as me being the one “directing” myself and my brothers in a “Western” movie scene. The scene took about 3 mins to film, and lasts for about 10 secs. My uncle had just bought himself a video camera, and wanted to film us. I thought we might as well do something useful on the film. I was around 9.

In school, it meant being president of the students’ union. My English teacher thought the term “president” was funny, and started referring to me as “Mr. President”.

I’ve been asked to lead organisations from a very early age. Positions I couldn’t have handled. So I said no.

I’ve always been interested in leadership, and even more so by great leaders. And this post is about great leaders.

I am more and more starting to realise that I’m not the great leader I thought I was. This might sound absurdly self boasting and arrogant to the non-ENTJs out there (around 99 %?). But that’s a normal thought for me. I usually think of myself as good at what I do. But lately, and very much through the lives of really great leaders, I’ve started to see that there is a depth that I lack.

What’s struck me is that true leadership is not so much dependent on gifting. It’s got more to do with being willing to walk the pain-stakingly slow road of laying down oneself. It’s about sacrifice, endurance, discipline, humility. The great leaders we see on stage, in the pulpit, or wherever, didn’t just hop up there. They were formed to be great leaders through a series of processes.

I guess all these ponderings come down to two points. Firstly: You’re not born a great leader (as I thought I was). You’re formed into a great leader. secondly: Jesus is calling me to “lay down my life, so that I will gain it”.

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A milestone. I guess some people would call it that. Especially the ones younger than 30. Probably the people past the mark don’t view it as that special. So with a week to go as a twenty something, I felt like I had to write something down.

What does turning 30 mean? I’ve always been thought to be older than I actually am. “You’re only 14? Only 17? Only 20? Only 21? Only 23? Only 25? Only 29?” Glad I’m not a woman, my feelings might have been hurt quite a few times otherwise.

This might seem odd to some of you, but for me, turning 30 means reaching a point where I’m no longer “oh, only so young…”. Which means my golf handicap of life has been lowered. I’m expected to deliver now. If I were Jesus (no worries, no disillussion on my part here), I’d be preparing to step in to public ministry now. And I’d be dead in 4 years.

Life as a 30 something seems a lot more serious than that of a 20 something. More demanding, more sober (figuratively speaking).

Where will I be in five years? What will I have accomplished? I guess I’m experiencing a thirty year crisis.

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